Out and about at Surfside

Welcome Back to Term 3

A big welcome back to our school community and it has been great to see our students settle back into the routines of school and hit the ground running with a settled week 1 and we are all looking forward to an exciting term ahead. It has definitely been a week of 4 seasons with sunshine, high winds and rain. It is important that students have uniform labelled and remember to take their uniform items back to class as they get active at break times. We look forward to our continued daily focus of effective teaching and learning being supported through a different range of engaging experiences and community connections in and out of the classroom. We have a busy and short term ahead so please keep up to date with our dates for your diary page. We want to wish the school community all the best for the term ahead and we look forward to celebrating our student achievements and experiences each fortnight via our newsletter or at our fortnightly assemblies. We hope that you have taken the time to book in for a parent/student/teacher conference next week to celebrate your child's effort and growth throughout the first semester and we look forward to welcoming you!

Some important dates as a reminder for the first few weeks term 3

July

Mon 28th - Parent/Teacher & Student Led Conferences (Night 1) 2.15-6.00pm

Tue 29th -   Parent/Teacher & Student Led Conferences (Night 2) 2.15-6.00pm

Wed 30th - Parent/Teacher & Student Led Conferences (Night 3) 3.30-4.30pm

Thu 31st -  Breakfast Club in the kitchen - 7.45am-8.30am

August

Fri 1st -       Year 3-6 Surfside Athletics @ Landy Field

                       Foundation 100 days of school celebration

                       informal assembly in courtyard (celebrations)

Mon 4th -   Surfside PS School Review Day 1

Thu 7th -     Breakfast Club in the kitchen - 7.45am-8.30am

Fri 8th -       State Schools Spectacular rehearsal

Here is a little snapshot of our Year 3's starting their Kitchen & Garden journey.

We had a fantastic finish to the kitchen and garden program for semester 1 with our Year 6's completing their program with the annual Surfside Masterchef competition. It has been great to see our new kitchen and garden superstars in the kitchen and garden learning new skills. We welcome our year 3's to the program and thank the staff for the great preparation that they have done to have the students ready with some new and important skills. Our year 5 crew have also had their kitchen and garden sessions and the staff were impressed with the skills that they are already bringing in and I am sure Masterchef 2026 will be even bigger!! We are always looking for parent/carer or guardian help during these sessions so if you are available check Georgie and Clancey's Kitchen and Garden page for more details on how to help out.

Food Scrap Friday Volunteers Needed

Each and every Friday throughout 2025 a dedicated crew are busy collecting food scrap buckets in rain, hail, shine and possibly snow today. They do an awesome job and our garden and community appreciate their support. We are always looking for more helpers so if you want to know more please check in with the crew on a Friday . 

School Sport Victoria Division T-Ball Championships

The School Sport Victoria Division T-Ball Championships took place on Tuesday after being postponed in term 2 due to challenging weather. The conditions weren't better for this event but everyone braved the weather and had an enjoyable day. There was bunting, hard throws, some hard hits and relentless pressure on the outfield. The kids had an amazing day and they should be congratulated on their level of participation and effort throughout the day.

A special shout out to some amazing Surfside volunteers

🌱 A Huge Thank You to Our Incredible Kitchen & Garden Volunteers! 🌿

At Surfside, our kitchen and garden program continues to thrive thanks to the unwavering support of our dedicated volunteers. Every week, rain or shine, there are special people working behind the scenes (and sometimes right alongside our students) to keep this program flourishing — and we’d love to take a moment to recognise a few of them.

Warren has been part of our Surfside family for decades — his children, Mark, Peter, and Grace, were students here in the 90s — and his care for our school hasn’t skipped a beat. You might not even catch him in action, but you’ll certainly see his handiwork. Pop in on a Monday and you’ll find new shelving, freshly repaired paving, or a neatly dug trench behind the shed. Warren generously gives his time after school and on weekends, always leaving things better than he found them. We are so grateful for his quiet magic and steady hands.

Marianne is another gem in our garden, always ready to dive into whatever job needs doing — whether it’s planting, weeding, watering, or rolling up her sleeves to sort the freezer or tidy the laundry cupboard. She brings positivity, energy, and a can-do attitude that uplifts everyone around her. We are constantly inspired by her willingness to jump in, get dirty, and get things done!

Leonie brings with her not just care and commitment, but a whole lot of horticultural heart. On weekends, she and her husband often swing by to prune fruit trees, check on the chickens, or make sure the plants in the hothouse are thriving. She’s also a regular helping hand during class sessions, generously sharing her gardening knowledge with students and helping the program run smoothly.

To Warren, Marianne and Leonie — and to every volunteer and family member who continues to support our kitchen and garden program — thank you. Your time, energy, and love help grow more than just vegetables. You continue to impact our school through growing confidence, growing a positive community, and growing positive connections.

We are so blessed to have you as part of our Surfside family. 💚

Food Scrap Friday Volunteers

Snack Shack Term 3

New Basketball Court Surface

The holiday break is always a great opportunity for work to be completed around the school grounds and we see mowing, cleaning and grounds upkeep completed. We thank Terry, the grounds team and the team at Logical Cleaning for their support during these breaks. We have seen the completion of the upgrade and resurfacing to our outdoor basketball court area. It looks and feels great and will be a great multi use area for our school and local community. It has good bounce and will be able to be used for so many more things throughout a week. 

2025 NAPLAN Results Year 3 & Year 5

We were excited to receive our 2025 NAPLAN individual results this week and students and families will receive their individual reports on Friday. Our classes, cohorts and school will utilise this data to continue to evaluate our performance, support student learning  and set our annual implementation goals going into 2026 and support our upcoming school review. We are lucky to be a very data rich school and our professional learning communities use this data on a weekly basis to best support our students in and out of the classroom at the relevant point of need.

NAPLAN results are now reported against proficiency standards, with student achievement shown against 4 levels of proficiency. There is a standard for each assessment area at each year level. This replaces the previous numerical NAPLAN bands and national minimum standards. 

To help understand the new reports please refer to the parent information attachment below:

Proficiency Standards Explained

Student achievement in NAPLAN is reported using proficiency standards for each assessment area at each year level. The standards are set at a challenging but reasonable expectation of what students know and can do at the time of testing. There are 4 proficiency levels: 

• Exceeding: the student’s result exceeds expectations at the time of testing. 
• Strong: the student’s result meets challenging but reasonable expectations at the time of testing. 
• Developing: the student’s result indicates that they are working towards expectations at the time of testing.
• Needs additional support: the student’s result indicates that they are not achieving the learning outcomes that are expected at the time of testing. They are likely to need additional support to progress satisfactorily.

A brief summary of our results are indicated below with a comparison to 2024 results and all of our students and staff should be congratulated on these consistent or improved performance results. All of these results are above similar schools average, network schools average and state average. NAPLAN is of course a single measure of student achievement at a particular time period and staff utilise many data sets to guide the weekly teaching and learning program at Surfside. Well done to all for working toward your best effort.

NAPLAN Individual Student Report - Information for Parents and Carers 2025

2025 NAPLAN Summary of Results - Surfside Primary School

Surfside Primary School Review - Term 3

Term 3 will be an exciting time for Surfside Primary School as we participate in our school review. Schools participate in a review every 4 years and this will see the completion of our 2021-2024 Strategic Plan. The will be plenty to celebrate from that strategic plan and our upcoming review will allow us the opportunity to reflect and set future goals for our 2025-2028 Strategic Plan. We look forward to welcoming Robyn Blackie (Reviewer), Shelby Papadopolous (Senior Education Improvement Leader), Sabrina Lunn (School Council President) Challenge Partners and the Surfside leadership team to participate in data analysis and conversations, classroom observations, reflections and staff, student and community interviews. Our school review will take place on the following dates:

• Monday 4th August
• Monday 11th August
• Tuesday 12th August

Book Week is coming...

Book week is only around the corner (week 5 of term 3 Monday 18th August-Friday 22nd August) and the theme for Book Week is 'Book an Adventure'. We will be conducting our 'Book Week parade on Friday 22nd August from 9.00am!'

The term 2 break provides an opportunity to get that outfit ready.

Children's Book Week turns 80 in 2025

Children’s Book Week is The CBCA’s key highlight national event of the year. This year’s celebration will run from Saturday 16 to Saturday 23 August.

The 2025 theme is Book an Adventure!

The feature artist for the year, Jess McGeachin, has brilliantly captured this adventurous spirit in his artwork, which features a whimsical map filled with imaginary characters. Jess’ illustration invites young readers to embark on fantastical journeys, inspiring them to travel through the worlds that books open up. As an award-winning Australian picture book illustrator, Jess’ work encourages children to imagine, explore, and create their own adventures.

2025 is also a milestone year for the CBCA as they celebrate 80 years of Children’s Book Week! For 8 decades, CBCA has been dedicated to inspiring young minds to journey through the countless worlds that books offer. Jess’ imaginative artwork reflects this mission perfectly, encouraging children to set off on adventures through time, lands, and imagination. The CBCA look forward to continuing this mission for the next 80 years and beyond!

School Council 2025 - August Meeting

Our school council look forward to our next meeting which will be held on Tuesday 19th August:

• Finance Meeting at 5.00pm
• Council Meeting at 5.30pm